Tag: Carriacou

Friends,Fins,Fish,Fun

bearcruzer

October 21-27, 2010

After hearing the fishing stories from DaniellStorey about his great fishing day and then hearing  from Domino and Dancing Dolphin about our luck.  Ronnie just couldn’t stay tucked into Grenada another day.  Enough was enough.   He and Babbie, under the premise of meeting a friend who was supposed to be coming to Carriacou, showed up in Tyrell Bay.   Their friend never did arrive.  The Crew of Domino had moved north to Bequia and so missed the surprise reunion with Campechano.   We spent much of the weekend enjoying their company and even took their boat out to White Island for a day of fishing, snorkeling, and picnicing.   We only caught a barracuda but it was something.   Ronnie says he is due for a big fish day, just not that day.   We had a good time with them snorkeling around little White Island just south of Carriacou.   We were not too disappointed, not catching fish because we had spent the a couple of days with Ken and Katy of s/v Diana who are also here with us in Tyrell Bay, catching lobster.  We have enough seafood to last a while.  One day a small pirogue came by the boat.  We are traveling north again and so we expect to see an increase of boat vendors, etc.  The young man handed us a handwritten flyer advertising a fish fry on the beach.  It was being hosted by the families of the local ladies who run the vegetable stands on the beach.  The Crews of Diana, Campechano, and DD all got together and enjoyed some great local fair.  After the weekend Campechano returned to Grenada to meet their daughter who is flying in for a visit.   Ken, Katy, Mike and I paid for a couple of nights on the moorings next to Sand Island.  It is a picturesque narrow white sand Island with a few palm trees surrounded by a ring of coral.  We enjoyed a couple of days of great snorkeling.   It has been established as a marine reserve and so the health of the coral is improving and the fish life is becoming more abundant.  We saw larger snapper and Rock Hinds.  I watched a very cool dark brown Octopus swim by and upon seeing me, flattened himself against the rocks and changed his color to perfectly match the specked multicolored surface of his background becoming nearly invisible.  We swam through clouds of thousands of small silver fish we refer to as shiners.  There are pelicans and boobies swooping in and if you are snorkeling in the right place at the right time and find yourself in the middle of one of the large schools you might be privileged to get to see one of the birds diving into the water close by. We even found a large lobster in about 8 feet of water.   He taunted us by walking part way out of his hole to check us out.   We thought about grabbing him but there is a strict no fishing rule within the Marine Park, which must surely explain his bravado.  We had seen live lobster, his size, for sale from the fishermen in town who told us they were catching them with snares, by scuba diving in 70ft of water.   The Crews of Diana and DD, stopped for lunch and picked up some additional fishing lures before checking out of Carriacou/Grenada waters to continue our journey north.   Next stop, Bequia.

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Good Fishing around Carriacou

bearcruzer

10/20/2010

As hurricane season comes to an end, it is the time of year when people who have kept their boats below 12 degrees Lat make ready to continue their travels throughout the Caribbean and points beyond.    In Trinidad, I had met Marie at a women’s group meeting, yes we do have support groups for us crazy female sailors.     She and her husband JP have spent the last 4 years building their dream Motor Catamaran, DOMINO in Paraguay and are now traveling North.     We began referring to ourselves as Big D and Double D on the radio and our friendship blossomed from there.   They traveled from Trini and anchored near us in Hog Island where we got to know them a little better.   We have enjoyed hearing the story of how DOMINO came to be and all the adventures and misadventures of building her.    I have also been privileged to gain some valuable recommendations on getting my shoulder back into shape from Dr. JP,   Thank You.   With a functional Auto Helm and the prospect of good weather for a few days we opted to continue our journey North and head back up to Carriacou for a few days.    Domino also left the same day and we had a bit of a fishing competition going on.    We kept in contact via the Radio and they told us they had spotted some tuna.     As we were leaving Grenada, we caught a 2 ½ ft Barracuda that we through back.    Then nothing.    Domino who was ahead of us announced they had caught a large 52” Wahoo off of Isle Ronde between Grenada and Carriacou.   JP said it took a while to bring it in and he had to walk it around the boat before landing it.   We altered course to take us closer to the Island in hopes of matching their luck.   Still Nothing.    As we were arrived at the mouth of Tyrell Bay,  we began making preparations to anchor.   Just as we were thinking about bringing in the fishing lines we heard a loud zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and Mike yelled, “Fish On!”   I slowed the boat and Mike brought in a nice Blackfin Tuna.   We couldn’t match Domino on the size of the fish but we were happy we did not get skunked!  We got an e-mail from our friends on Campechano back in Grenada, they had no luck that same day and so we felt pretty good about our little Blackfin tuna.    We joined Marie and JP aboard DOMINO that evening for a celebratory dinner.    We have fish in the freezer and all is well!

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A Carriacou Birthday

bearcruzer

While we were in Carriacou we met and were befriended by James T and his wife Ellen…..capitan & crew of the S/V Boldly Go (Trekkies?).   We spent quite a few evenings getting to know each other and found out that Ellen and I both grew up in Orange County, CA.   She went to Corona del Mar HS and I to Tustin High.   Our fathers both worked for the same company, Autonetics that became North American Rockwell and spent a lot of our teen years along the beaches of Newport and Corona del Mar.   Small world.      We also met JT and Jayson, at a local birthday celebration.   They are father and his young son who had sailed over from Trinidad aboard S/V Stillawa to enjoy the regatta.   They had lost their dog a couple of days before and everyone had been on the lookout for her.  She turned up that day and they were as delighted to have her back and she was to be back.   I spent a little time showing Jayson the hand slapping game of Over the Top and how to Thumb Wrestle and we became good friends.   The Birthday celebration was in honor of, Cigarette…..yes that is a nickname.   Owner along with his son, of the Lambi Queen Restaurant and Bar.   There was food and drink in abundance and everyone was having a great time.   We enjoyed the music provided by a local DJ and after singing the traditional birthday song, it was time to……as they like to say,   Stick the Cake.    This is a fun local tradition of raising money to help pay for the party.    It is something like a cross between the dating game and a wedding cake cutting ceremony.   People pay money to nominate who will have the honor of Sticking the Cake.  That person has to stand in front of the cake and other people then pay to nominate who they think would be the best match to share the honor as well as the first bite of cake and a kiss.   There were a number of changes to both the female and male participants over the course of about 20 minutes along with much laughter and banter back and forth.   At one point a gentleman teasingly nominated a very young teen girl who seemed more mortified than delighted to be nominated for the honor.    In the end the Birthday Boy and his Ex-wife were left standing together to Stick the Cake.   Amidst howls of laughter, they shared a bite of cake but the kiss was conspicuously absent .

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Carriacou Regatta

bearcruzer

July  27 – August 6

Back to Carriacou for the Regatta, We buddy boated back up to Carriacou along with our friend Laurel who Singlehands her Prout Catamaran s/v  Here Today.   She is a Grandmother who has sailed most of her life and had her own sailing school.   She has graciously shared with us her friendship and is teaching me more of the terminology and technical aspects of sailing.   Laurel was up and out of the harbor even before we got our dingy raised.   We finally weighed anchor and headed back north the 35 miles to Tyrrell Bay.     On the trip north we discovered that one of our newly repaired alternators is still malfunctioning.   We’ll have to take it back to the repair shop when we return to Grenada.  Ughhh!……I need a sunset!    We had previously anchored in Tyrrell Bay on our way to Grenada and had promised John and Melody, S/V Millennium II, we would return and volunteer to help with the regatta events to raise money for the Carriacou Childrens Education Fund.   The efforts of s/v Millennium II and other volunteers have raised about 16,000 dollars this year and have raised 124,500.00 over the course of the last 10 years.  We spent time enjoying the Cruisers BBQ, the Mexican Train Domino tournament and the not-so-silent Auction and Rummage Sale.   It was an honor to be asked to participate as well as a whole lot of fun.   We also spent a couple of days enjoying the plethora of local events that Carriacou Regatta is so well known for.    Cruisers and Locals alike participate in numerous racing events.  Yacht races include a course race as well as an around the Island race.   There are also many classes of open boat races that get very competitive.  Most of the open boats are not very large and hold a crew of 3 to 8.  Racers come from all over and sail from their respective Islands to Carriacou to compete.   The onshore events include not only the well known, Egg & Spoon race, Balloon Shaving, and beer drinking competitions but also the lesser known but no less humorous events such as,  Donkey Races, an eating event called Buns & Coke, and the most popular event…….The Greeeeassssy Pole.    Don’t worry I too, had to ask a local, somewhat hesitantly, what this event entailed.     It is one of the regatta’s oldest events and has been a favorite of the crowds for over 45 years.    A long pole is greased and suspended out over the water at an angle.  At the end of the pole the prize awaits anyone who can make it to the end and grab hold of it before falling in the water.   I was told they used to hang a bottle of rum from the end but today it was a couple of bottles of Coke.    It was a wonderful time even with the intermittent rain showers (which did little to deter the racers).   The Carriacou people are warm and welcoming and laughter abounds.    I also saw my 1st Green Flash from the Anchorage here on Carriacou.   A stellar week to say the least.

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Carriacou

bearcruzer

June 30 – July 2nd

There is supposed to be a bit of weather sweeping across these southern Islands bringing some good gusts of wind and Thunderstorms.   We sailed on south to Carriacou which is part of Grenada.  We checked in at Hillsborough and were given a 3 month Visa from Immigration and 1 month from Customs.   There is a monthly fee for boats staying in Grenada of $50.00/mo.  It used to be a yearly fee.  My how times change.    After taking care of our Inbound Paperwork we walked around the town of Hillsborough.   We came upon a small museum run by the daughter of the famous Island Artist Canute Caliste.   Clemencia was happy to take us throughout this small museum and show us the artifacts it contained as well as many of the tools and implements used in years past here on the Island.   There is also a wonderful tribute to her father who was a musician and a famous painter of Island Life.   We spent the better part of an hour in the delightful company of Clemencia and were privileged to get to hear from her personal accounts of growing up on the Island as well as some of the colorful history of this beautiful place.   We then sailed around the point to Tyrell Bay where we stayed for a couple of days until this little front passed through.    We had a few Thunderstorms,  mostly at night and did have a good gusts of 27 knots of wind come through the harbor that caused a little commotion with a couple of boats as they swung a little too close on their anchor lines.    Our anchor is dug in well and we haven’t moved.    We have free WiFi in this harbor and it is a good connection…..thus catch up time with the Blog and with telephone calls to friends and family.   I’m missing them all greatly right now as there is a big gathering for both my Parents and Aunt and Uncle’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Friends and Family that I haven’t seen in years will be in attendance.    It is time’s like these when the sacrifices we make to live this lifestyle become greatly amplified.   We did get to hear our first steel pan band of the trip here on Carriacou.    It is sometimes difficult to attend evening events as the local music and night life doesn’t usually get started until well after 9:00pm.   Guess I still haven’t gotten into the rhythm of taking siesta during the heat of the day so that I can stay awake for the fun!  We stayed for 3 songs and then headed back to the boat to sleep.  Sorry, as you can see, I kinda got lax on the photo taking while we were here.   Here is a good shot of a local floating Bar that was put to frequent use by many of the cruisers while we were here.